Book Smarts or Street Smarts

If you had a choice, would you rather have "book smarts" or "street smarts?"

How many people do you know that have a lot of book smarts, but no common sense? I can't tell you how many people I have run across that are brilliant -- amazingly smart -- but can't make a simple decision to save their lives. And, usually, if they make a decision it's the wrong decision, which causes another whole set of issues that require common sense to sort out -- it's a vicious cycle.

I also know many people whom I would consider not very book smart, but they have great common sense.

I often tell folks I received two degrees during my undergraduate time at Michigan State University -- the fact that I went to a little ol' public university should give you some idea how smart I am... On the one hand I received an academic degree, which is a necessity for most people to get ahead these days. But more importantly, I also received a social degree; a degree that helps me interact with other people. I would argue that my social degree is worth more than my academic degree.

In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell discusses "practical intelligence" and "analytical intelligence." Practical intelligence is "knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it" -- it's practical in nature. "It's knowledge that helps you read a situation correctly and get what you want." Practical intelligence is learned. You get it from your upbringing and exposure to different situations.

Conversely, analytical intelligence is the traditional "smarts" you would associate with IQ tests. As opposed to the learned nature of practical intelligence, analytical intelligence is very much genetic in nature.

Just because you have analytical intelligence does not necessarily suggest you will have practical intelligence, and vice-versa. Obviously, you would like to have high levels of both, but that is very rare. Most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle -- we have just enough analytical intelligence and practical intelligence to make our way in the world.

Would you consider yourself book smart or street smart? Which is more desirable?

Image is property of the Random Thoughts Blog.